A house in Healing and Bellac is best

...the house-selling process has begun! This week we are getting valuations from the local estate agents - we've had 2 round so far, one was excellent, one was quite the opposite. We've got another coming round later in the week and then we'll be going for it.

I figured out today that we actually have a lot more floor space than most of the other properties on the market in Healing for under £250,000, which is a real selling point for us. I really hope we get people in the door, as I think the house will sell itself from the inside. We have a great big kitchen - the heart of our home, and 4 double bedrooms - this is quite rare. There are lots of 4-bed places around, but most of them have at least one bedroom that is very small. All our bedrooms can take a double bed comfortably. We are in such a great area too...our road is nice and quiet, the back garden is very private and secluded, and it's south-facing. I'm not exaggerating when I say that it has been known to be 10 degreed hotter in our back garden than in the front. It's such a sun trap. I just hope we can find something in France that compares.

Bellac certainly seems to be the place to be. Several websites have picked it out as the up-and-coming place to live. Prices are still low and it remains fairly undiscovered. We have found several places with 4 bedrooms, an attic to convert and lots of land, for around 180,000 euros - about £120,000. Lets hope there's still the same choice when we are in a position to buy. There certainly seems to be plenty going on in the area - tennis clubs, lakeside beaches, watersports, theatre, shopping... it's quite hard to not get excited about it, though I know it's way too early...there's so much still to do and so much that could go wrong.

Work-wise it looks like I'm going to be travelling about a bit for the next few weeks. The project that I have been on for the last 4 months or so has paused for a few weeks, so I'm now going to do other stuff for a while. As of now, I'm going to Munich for 3 days, London for a day and Caerphilly (wales) for a week! It will come as quite a shock to us all I think, although it's probably a good thing, as I'll no doubt be away a lot when we finally get to France. Getting used to me being away more will be part of the process of accepting the change for all of us.